Archives for October 2016

We know the guests you want: the ones that never cancel last minute, who come back again and again, and (hopefully!) spend a little bit extra on that bottle of wine. Today, we’re excited to introduce a new reservation type we’ve developed at OpenTable called Premium Access reservations, which help restaurants bring in more of the diners they love to serve.

Currently being piloted in Boston, this feature rewards OpenTable’s best diners with special access to the most in-demand reservations (think that 7:30 slot on a Saturday night). Restaurants can fill seats with frequent, high-value diners, while OpenTable users gain access to some of the city’s hottest tables using their Dining Rewards Points.

Just over a week ago, Isaac and Amanda Toups opened the doors to Toups South, a restaurant in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) in New Orleans. As a museum restaurant, Toups South is tasked with showcasing the flavors and culinary traditions of the South — a tall order, considering the region’s signature dishes range from barbecue to crawfish étouffée and represent countless distinctive communities from Texas to the Carolinas.

Toups South is the couple’s second concept. Toups Meatery, which they opened in 2012, boasts “straight Cajun” offerings like lamb neck, confit chicken thigh, and authentic cracklins. The Meatery helped Isaac win the attention of Top Chef, where he competed in Season 13 (and won “Fan Favorite”).

Now, just days into their new opening, we talked to Isaac and Amanda about real Cajun food — what makes it special, why stories matter, and why people are listening. [Read more…]

Food halls, artisanal marketplaces — whatever you call them, they’re popping up in cities throughout the country. Bringing together restaurants, retail, events, and other experiences in one central location, these spaces have become both gathering places for communities and destinations for tourists.

Rayme Rossello knows the model well. She’s the owner of Comida, a craveworthy Mexican concept with a pink food truck named Tina, two (soon to be three!) brick-and-mortar restaurants, and a catering business in the Denver area. In addition to her truck and Longmont restaurant, she opened Comida inside The Source — a food market in Denver’s River North District that offers everything from freshly baked bread to flower arrangements — in 2013. Later this year, she’ll enter another marketplace with the opening of The Stanley, which will feature more than 50 independently-owned Colorado businesses under one roof.

“Somebody comes to one place for a bunch of different things, and that’s appealing for guests,” says Rayme. “People have a five-second attention span, so you can capture their attention with a lot of cool things all at one time. And it’s not a mall — they’re choosing a more curated selection of people. It’s a smaller, more diverse mix, which as a merchant I find really interesting.”

After waiting tables in her teens, Rayme worked for Denver institutions such as Q’s and Jax in the ’90s and ultimately opened Proto’s Pizza with a business partner — a concept that now has five locations and continues to grow. “We did everything,” she says of the first opening, which came together with a $60,000 budget. “People come back when the food is really good. And we were gracious and made people feel comfortable, and we were friends with people.”

In December 2009 she started shopping around for a food truck, thinking it would be less expensive than opening a restaurant (it still ended up costing about $120,000, she says). She battled the city of Boulder for an official license that would allow her to move to different locations, which they didn’t have at the time. Eventually, she opened Comida’s Longmont location and used the restaurant kitchen as a commissary for the truck.

The opportunity to be part of The Source came shortly after. Rayme was approached by developers Kyle and Andra Zeppelin, who wanted her to join a new project they compared to the Chelsea Market in New York. She took the leap. Now, “the choice to be in the Stanley very much came from my experience of being at the Source,” says Rayme.

Here are Rayme’s top tips for restaurants considering entering a marketplace — what to expect, and how to set yourself up for success. [Read more…]

“We didn’t have the money to buy a liquor license,” remembers Kevin D’Egidio, co-chef and co-owner of Helm, a restaurant in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood. In Philadelphia, liquor licenses can cost as much as $170,000, not including the cost of the product that needs to be ordered to support a beverage program. Kevin and his team could either save up the money needed to secure a full liquor license, which could take a while, or open Helm with a BYOB license, allowing guests to bring in their own wine, beer or spirit.

D’Egidio and his business partner, Mike Griffiths, decided to open Helm in March of this year with a BYOB license so that they could get into the kitchen sooner. “We just wanted to cook,” he says. Since they’ve opened, they have racked up accolades and been included on “best of” lists in the city.

For new, independent restaurants, having a full, unrestricted liquor license is beneficial because beverage programs tend to have higher profit margins than food. Beverage programs also create another way for guests to connect with a restaurant through signature cocktails, beer, and wine, which are all chosen to complement the food menu.

At BYOB restaurants, the staff has to do extra work to create a bridge between what a guest has brought and what’s on the menu for the night. Here are a few ways that the team at Helm helps guide their guests and how the kitchen makes BYOB work for them. [Read more…]